The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-06-24


| covered that Charley Keep couldn't find it.
no political secret was safe, and it was hard
work for the police even to keep him from
anticipating all their fine work
Ii news was scarce Keep would invent it.
One summer he applied for a vacation, his
salary to go on while he was away This
was agreed to on condition that Keep should
furnish something interesting for the paper
every day he was away. Keep decided to
lass his time of rest in Canada, and went at
once to Toronto. The next day he sent two
column letter to his paper, and when the first
edition came out the town was instantly
thrown into an uproar.
1t was during the Fenian excitement, and
Keep announced in his letter that party of
well known Rochester men--giving their
names-who were most of them Englishmen
and were in Canada on a fishing excursion,
had been arrested and thrown into British
dungeon on suspicion of being Fenian SYM
pathizers. Keep wrote moving account of
the sufferings endured by the prisoners; told
how they were obliged to subsist on bread
and water, and alleged that the two who
were suspected Of being the leaders of the
party were subjected to solitary confine-
ment and were kept in irons This
precious story was supplemented by an
account Of an interview with two or
three of the victims of Canadian
suspicion and an urgent appeal to the United
States government to at once right the wrong
suffered by the imprisoned citizens The
case was aggravated enough, the writer
alleged, to call for war.
Alumber of the supposed prisoners friends
called meeting at once, and doubtless dele
CATION would have been sent to Canada the
n'xt day had not the fishermen returned to
Rochester on the evening train, sound and
well. and free from evidences of imprison-
men, i'll a foreign Jail
Of course there was great Indignation, and
two or three of the victims of the joke threat
cned to sue the paper for libel, but the matter
was finally dropped, though Keep was for
some time i'll disgrace with his employers, who
were as much deceived as anybody in the
matter. Keep regained his standing some
what later by a balloon ascension which he
made with a travelling balloonist. The mayor
of the city was induced to make the ascent,
and every paper in the place wanted to send
reporter. 1t was decided that the balloon
would only carry double, but Keeps cheek
and persistence carried him through, and
when the balloon arose the other reporters
were disguised to find that tnere were three
men in the car and that one Of them was
Keep.
Well, they had a nice sail in the clouds, but
their landing experience was terror. The
balloon drifted fourteen or fifteen miles to
the northwest of the city, and when it began
to sink the aeronaut threw out his grapnel
Everything looked favorable for safe land
ing, but there was a strong current of wind
near the earth that the voyagers had not
counted on, and when the balloon struck
it all their calculations were upset. The
grapnel caught in rail fence, the car was
tilted and the fence was almost as badly de-
moralized as the balloonists' nerves. The
balloon was carried along at lively rate and
the rails flew in every direction. Keep was
the first man spilled out and he came down
all in heap, pretty badly frightened and
shaken up, but not much hurt The mayor
fell out about ten rods further on, but the
balloonist clung to the floating craft for
some distance. At last he was brushed out of
the basket by trees branches, which also
tore open the gas bag.
OF course Keep had big scoop" on the
rest of the boys, and he made the most of his
story
The public is already familiar with Keeps
later life his success with The Wall Street
News and tile manner in which he annoyed
jay Gould through its columns.
CHARLES LINNLEY.